1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for auto-formatting a hard disk drive operatively attached to a personal computer.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Generally, when an user wants to format a hard disk drive (hereinafter, HDD) in a computer system, three stages of formatting: low-level formatting, DOS partition formatting and DOS formatting, are performed in the order presented. In order to perform such formatting, programs which have developed for each of the three formatting stages are used. With the use of such programs, the user must make a number of keystrokes on the keyboard of the computer system to execute the programs. Further, a lot of time is required to complete the performance of such programs, making such programs very inefficient to use. In addition, a careless mistake in manipulation of the keyboard by operator may damage the HDD.
It is assumed that the HDD is operatively attached to the personal computer (hereinafter, PC). When the computer is turned on to perform the formatting of the HDD, the surface temperature of the main media of the HDD gradually rises over a period of time which results in thermal expansion of the HDD media. Therefore, the surface state changes due thermal expansion and effects the record density of the media, so that the operational characteristics of the HDD may undesirably change. Accordingly, the change of the surface temperature of the media undesirably damages the HDD.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to solve the problem mentioned above, and to provide a method for auto-formatting the HDD, which simplifies keyboard input, operation time thereof, and prevents damage to the HDD, due to a change of the operation characteristic of the HDD as described above.
According to this invention, prevention of a careless mistake in performing the formatting programs, increased efficiency in formatting due to a decrease in the time required, and a stable formatting operation to the HDD are accomplished, by using a programmed RAM without directly executing the key-inputting manipulation required for performing each of programs. Also, after completing the performing of the intended programs, the user can easily determine whether the results of the resulting performance are erroneous or not.
The preceding objects should be construed as merely presenting a few of the more pertinent features and applications of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to both the summary of the invention and the detailed description, below, which describe the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.